Hippocampal and Frontoparietal Development and Inference

NCT07199907 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: 20120900555R01MH100121
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 142
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to test if an intervention used to manipulate memory and inference can improve our understanding of how brain development supports these abilities in healthy adolescent and adult volunteers. The main questions it aims to answer are: (1) Do hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex shift from forming simple memories for singular experiences to more complex memories that link numerous experiences together?; (2) Does an improved ability to retrieve prior memories in parietal cortex during new learning have consequences for how those memories are organized at different ages?; and (3) Does the emerging memory control supported by ventromedial prefrontal cortex development facilitate the formation of optimally-organized memory representations? Adolescent participants (13-18 years) will perform two experimental tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning at three timepoints (T1-T3), spaced 1.5 years apart. Researchers will compare behavioral and neuroimaging data to a separate group of adults (19-25 years) who will perform the task at a single timepoint (T1). The tasks and comparison groups will allow us to isolate the neural processes that support memory and inference behavior, and how these processes change with age.

Conditions

Healthy

Keywords

Hippocampus; Medial Prefrontal Cortex; Parietal Cortex; Memory; Reasoning; Inference; Adolescence; Brain Development

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Changes in blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal over time

  Within the adolescent group, changes in BOLD signal during task performance, as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), will be assessed across three separate timepoints.

  36 months

• Differences in blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal between age groups

  Differences in BOLD signal during task performance, as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), will be compared between the adolescent and adult groups at timepoint 1.

  1 month

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Changes in task behavior over time

  36 months

• Differences in task behavior between age groups

  1 month

Study Arms (2)

Adolescents

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants completed a predictable (associative inference; Session 1) and noisy (probabilistic inference; Session 2) learning task during fMRI scanning. Participants completed these tasks three times, once every 18 months.

Behavioral: Associative Inference; Behavioral: Probabilistic Inference

Adults

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants completed a predictable (associative inference; Session 1) and noisy (probabilistic inference; Session 2) learning task during fMRI scanning. Participants completed these tasks a single time, serving as a control comparison to our adolescent arm.

Behavioral: Associative Inference; Behavioral: Probabilistic Inference

Interventions

Associative Inference BEHAVIORAL

Objects, faces, and scenes will be arranged into 12 ABC triads presented as overlapping AB and BC pairs. AB pairs will comprise objects; BC pairs will consist of the same B object paired with a face or scene (C). Twelve non-overlapping (NO) pairs will serve as controls. Participants will study overlapping (AB, BC) and NO pairs (4s) across two 5-minute fMRI runs. Each pair will be presented three times within a run. Following learning, participants will complete a self-paced 3-alternative forced choice (AFC) inference task during which they will select the C item that shares a common relationship with an A cue. Foils for inference trials will be C items from other ABC triads, of the same face/scene subcategory. Participants will then complete a final, self-paced 3-AFC memory test of premise associations (AB, BC) and NO pairs. To quantify memory retrieval and how overlapping events are organized, before and after learning, participants will view the A and C items during fMRI scanning.

Adolescents; Adults

Probabilistic Inference BEHAVIORAL

Participants will visit a virtual "zoo," which is divided into three zones, each containing the same five monsters, but with different likelihoods of occurrence. Participants learn the underlying likelihood distributions by virtually navigating each zone. On each trial, two monsters appear; participants select the monster that they predict will next appear (6s). After making their choice, the correct monster appears and feedback is provided (2s). Participants tour each zone four times across 9 runs. Following learning, participants are tested on probabilistic inference. Here, participants see a series of monster "photographs" and are asked to infer in which zone they were taken. On each trial, a sequence of individual monster images (3.5s each) will then appear (1-6 monsters) prior to a decision screen, in which participants choose which of the two zones most likely produced the "photos" (4s) and are given feedback (1.5s). Participants will perform nine fMRI runs of the inference task.

Adolescents; Adults

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 25 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Right-handed
• Have normal or corrected to normal vision
• Have normal hearing
• Do not have contraindications for MRI
• Have no history of neurological or psychiatric disorders at initial intake
• Are of normal intelligence
• Native or fluent English speaker

You may not qualify if:

• A major medical illness or a neurological disorder, or neurological abnormality including significant head trauma (loss of consciousness \> 5 min).
• Meeting criteria for any psychiatric disorder or any prior psychiatric hospitalizations
• Intelligence scores more than 1 standard deviation below the mean on the WASI-II
• History of special education placement
• Non-native English speaker
• Prior use of psychotropic medication, except antidepressants, for longer than 1 month
• History of moderate to severe cannabis use disorder, via self-report

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Texas at Austin: lead
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): collaborator
• Nicole Varga: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

The University of Texas at Austin

Austin, Texas, 78712, United States

RECRUITING

Central Study Contacts

Alison R Preston, PhD

CONTACT

512-475-7255; apreston@utexas.edu

Nicole L Varga, Ph.D.

CONTACT

856-304-6771; nvarga@austin.utexas.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 22, 2025
• First Posted: September 30, 2025
• Study Start: February 20, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2029
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2029
• Last Updated: September 30, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share

Locations

US (1)